by Johnny King

​    Try to avoid getting cold it's too hard to get warm again. Your core body temperature changes very slowly. It takes a long time to get low and a long time to recover. Keep bundled up inside until you feel warm but try to avoid sweating because damp clothes will make you cold later. 
    When going into warm places after being active outdoors in the cold, be able to quickly strip off all headgear and enough clothes to start cooling immediately, ohterwise as soon as warm air hits your body's heat sensors on your cheeks, your body may immediately start sweating profusely. Sweatshirts and sweaters with zippers in front make it easier to open up to cool off.
    Heat loss from the head, ears, neck, wrists, hands, and ankles, is substantial, and conversely opening jackets and removing headgear allows quick cooling through thesse areas when needed. Heat loss from cracks like collars and cuffs is also substantial. Keep collars tight and zippers all the way up at the neck, cuffs tight at wrists and ankles. Tie pants cuffs with string if necessary. Wear layers. Many lightweight layers of cloth are better than a few thick layers because they trap air between them which helps to insulate.
    Head: knit sailor's cap Russian ushanka fur cap with ear flaps that tie under the chin, sweatshirt hood, coat hood. Above the belt: Layers of T-shirts, shirts (preferably wool), sweatshirts, sweaters (preferably wool), jackets and long coat on top. 
Hands: Good gloves, at least 2 pairs, maybe heavy mittens for sleeping when you don't need to use your fingers.
    Below the belt: Long underwear, or cheap black tights that you can buy at most supermarkets in the women 's hosiery section, maybe two pair, lightweight nylon athletic pants, which sometimes have a mesh net lining, maybe two pair, denim jeans, maybe two pair, baggy cargo pants with plenty of pockets for last, (four or even more pair of pants isn't unreasonable but make sure you can still walk, climb stairs, and get up if you fall down ;-), 
Feet:waterproof leather boots that lace up to the ankle, two, three, four pairs of socks.
    Keeping feet dry is important for keeping warm at night. Using the hot air hand dryer in a public restroom to dry your socks just before sleeping helps a lot. A small hair dryer with a folding handle in your pack can be useful for drying socks or giving yourself a "hot air shower," which cleans the dead skin cells off you almost as well as a hot water shower, and can freshen up your clothes, and it can heat up a small freezing room quickly to make it easier to change clothes.
    Plastic garbage bags of the proper size with holes cut for necks and arms worn underneath jackets and coats as shirts, and larger plastic garbage bags worn over everything else, are very effective thermal and rain barriers. King Sooper sells 3 ' x 5' heavy duty black plastic garbage bags in a box of 20 for about $8-$10 - 50 cents each. Putting your feet into one and pulling it up, then putting your feet into your sleeping bag, then putting yourself into another of the 3x5 plastic bags, so you have plastic bag + sleeping bag, + another plastic bag, between you and the cold, will substantially increase your heat retention on very cold nights. Warning - if you only put one plastic bag over your sleeping bag your bag will get damp from condensation. If you don't have a tent, a $4 tarp laid flat over you, tied to stakes if windy, will give protection from the wind and retain heat.

by Jan Lightfoot

​    The homeless might have a car to sleep in. Or with the buy here pay here are payment services they can buy one to sleep in. Cars are cold in the winter. Some homeless across the states,have died in car fires, due to faulty heating systems. I slept in the second safest place not intended to provide shelter myself, and thought myself lucky. I was. I did not end up dead in my car.
    A friend, couch or a motel room is the top of the ladder of places to sleep. But if it’s a guy friend and you are a gal rape could come into play. There is no safe place to sleep, but an apartment of your own is better than in the rough. As a 20 year-old I slept off the beaten path, now and then on the ground, and in a back ally.  At least one man alone in Maine who the newspaper could not figure out why she was in the city of Augusta parking lot. He had called the hotline I ran out of my apartment the day before. Told me he was going to sleep there, when the town hall refused to pay for a motel they should have paid. *1) Waterville Sentinel around 1999._
    It’s thought by many officials who dole out general Assistance or welfare, that guys can always find a place to sleep. Apparently, guys cannot always find a safe place to sleep. He told me to tell the newspapers “why” his was in the parking lot, when there was not a great sale the next day. I tried, after reading his story. I lacked documentation. 
    The newspaper, did not want to rock the boat. They would not accept my word.  In the “Street Lawyer”, John Grisham had a homeless family, a mother and I think 3 kids near Washington,  D.C. die in a car fire. Yes, that is fiction; but fiction is based on reality. Even if you can afford a car, you are not safe against frostbite. Or burning alive.
    Too many states laws protect landlords, retailers, and officials above the weak persons, who end up dying, due to weather and bad cars. Their aim is to live.
    Now, why would anyone tell the homeless to buy a car. Because it is about the 3rd safest place to sleep. Because some homeless are working. And credit can be arranged through the "Buy Here Pay Here" rip-off places.  Not all are but enough are. With 10 states protecting them and other business, you can lose the car in the matter of months.
I would look for the ones who sell what too often turn out to be bogus repair warranties for thousands of dollars. Ask the Better Busisness Bureau if any complaints are filed against them, Ask the Attorney General of your state if they have any bad statements issued against them, have a lawyer  as legal aid advise you. If you have a house that is not an abandoned building you can take longer to go over the pros and cons of a "buy here pay our credit company" auto place._
    Why would an author tell you about the pitfalls of "buy a car here, pay here?" Because the auto companies want your money. They do not care if after 2 or 3 months or 6 months, they take your car back. They sell it again. Some are saying you can buy a car for $97 or so down , if that much. That is much less then you pay for a rent deposit. Often the repair guarantee promises that wiring, and everything behind tires, brakes and other things needing replacement in 1-3 years will be covered.
    I a housed person, found this was not true, in my case. They Buy Here would not replace a windshield reservoir, which should have been replaced on the reconditioning. This happens on some dealerships who are less than honest. Few states have listed what the points of reconditioning should be. So they get away with it.
The car I brought from a "BUY HERE" had the engine stream cleaned, and new tires on, plus the outside and inside washed. The struts and stuff was original, equipment of a 2004. I could not afford to pay a mechanic to check out the car before buying. The serpentine belt went out after a little over a year.  We fixed it, at a downtown repair shop rather than half an hour away. They would not fix anything without the cost of the part, and cheaper labor was $56. 00 an hour rather than $90 but the tow ate up the $34 savings.
    I am near the process of suing the "BUY HERE" and credit company ploy, or scam. They want us to pay for two a year a repair warranty we cannot use, because the car was totaled a few months ago. But everyone jerked around by "BUY HERE" and pay our company scam, cannot afford a lawyer or the know how to file a legal suit. Because even if they are not homeless, they are so badly paid, they live on less income than the cost of living hand-to-mouth.
   The Attorney General, the BBB, your friends, family and neighbors, file a law complaint, and too many of the "Buy Here, Finance Here" rip offs, do not follow their repair promises, even a verbal contract to fix most repairs is enforceable in court. What is not enforceable, is a deceitful practice, that makes the contract illegal. That is enforceable against the companies. Plus, writing an editorial, in the newspapers, are the places to tell their dirty secrets. We need people to speak out against injustice. This is far away from legal advice only a lawyer can give that. But an author can say to watch out for a scam, or write a letter to the press.

by Pueblo Homeless Resident

    Once upon a time I had a life. I had a beautiful house, a wonderful son and three dogs. One day I got fired for no reason and I collected one unemployment check before I found another job. The job was only part-time and did not cover my living expenses. I was evicted from my home and now I live in my car. I continued to work for as long as possible, but I was constantly harassed by coworkers who told me I stink and needed to shower. Now I am unemployed and homeless. One of my dogs died and my family is cold and hungry a lot.
    I have never been homeless before and I have no idea how to pull myself out of this current situation. The homeless community needs to stand together and demand that the state spend a little money to provide people with public restrooms, showers, and campgrounds. Give us a place to go and we will go there. The current laws are forcing people to freeze and possibly die from exposure. Have some compassion and respect life. Homeless United.

by Travis

  Fun fact: In order to be eligible to work in the U.S. you have to be able to satisfy the I-9 requirements, which include identification paperwork that can not be expired. This is an incredible challenge for many facing homelessness, and a huge obstacle to getting back into the work orce. Especially, for those who due to theft, loss, or simply to the chaos that being homeless brings, do not have self identifying documentation.

A Colorado ID requires:
    -You must provide identification documents to prove full legal name, date of birth, identity and lawful presence in the United States.  
    -You must provide proof of your Social Security number.
   -You must provide proof of your current Colorado address.

    If you stay in a homeless shelter they will give you a letter for the mailing address, if you stay in that shelter, which in itself can be a challenge due to anxiety, crowding, restrictions, etc. That covers an address, though the shelters are not great for actually getting mail.
    Identification documents would have to be a photo ID (can be VA, Military, DOC, etc.) or a US birth certificate. Of course, if you had a photo ID, you could have used them from the start, but in this example we assume they do not.
    If you don't have proof of your SSN, you will need to get a new SS card, for which you need proof of your identity and U.S. citizenship. Again, this requires a copy of your birth certificate or a passport. Once you have that item, you need to visit the Social Security Administration  and request a replacement copy.
    A U.S. Birth Certificate requires:
This can be hard to obtain if you were born outside of the state of Colorado because you need to first call or visit online the vital records department of the state you were born in, be able to provide enough information to find the record, and pay the fee that ranges from $5 to $25 for a copy to be mailed to you. By the way, mailing it to you can be pretty damn unreliable if your only mailing address is a homeless shelter.

So... in order to legally work, if lacking identification, the steps are:

    1.Access state of birth vital records, somehow pay ($5-$25) for a copy of your birth certificate. Wait to have it mailed to you. Hope that you get it from the shelter before they return or dispose of the mail (done usually once a week).

    2. Use the U.S. birth certificate to go to the Social Security Administration office and request a replacement card. They will give you a temporary receipt valid for 30 days and mail you the actual card. Generally no fee for this replacement card though limited to 3 in a year or 10 in your lifetime.

    3. Then, armed with your new SSA receipt or card, a letter from the homeless shelter to use to verify your address, and your birth certificate, you can go to the DMV and attempt to get your ID. The fee will be $11.50. They will again issue you a temporary ID and mail the permanent one to your mailing address. Again, hope you get your mail before it's returned, otherwise you get to do this process over again when your temporary ID expires in 30 days.

    Finally, after however long this process takes, you can use those items to successfully fill out that required paperwork.
    So, understand that sometimes, people can't just "get whatever job will hire them" because once you are in this daunting position, the steps to recover from it can seem to be stacked against you at every turn.
     Before we think someone is lazy, think about this process and realize that some people didn't even read this far before giving up, let alone having to push through this ordeal in order to be able to work at all.

OK, maybe this fact wasn't fun after all.